Health Insurance

Massachusetts law limits when state residents can buy health insurance. The law applies to individuals and families buying health insurance on their own, outside of an employer’s plan or government-subsidized program. People in this group will have two opportunities to buy health insurance in 2011: Jan. 1 to Feb. 15, and July 1 to August 15. People who are uninsured and need health insurance now are advised to act soon in order to meet the Feb. 15 deadline.

Islanders without health insurance will receive an invitation to
band together next year in a community-based plan that aims to open the
doors to a comprehensive health care system now out of reach for
one-fifth of the Vineyard's 15,000 year-round residents.

But many doctors and health care agencies worry that the plan may
tip the already fragile financial balance of caring for patients under a
paperwork-laden and reimbursement-stingy health maintenance organization
system.